1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic devices and methods of fabricating the same, and, more particularly, to an electronic device having conductive contact pads and a method of fabricating the same.
2. Description of Related Art
A general electronic component or semiconductor chip is an integrated circuit (IC) capable of processing electronic signals fabricated by forming multiple dielectric layers and metal layers on a silicon substrate. In recent years, a flourished complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor is an electronic device constructed on the basis of a standard semiconductor process, which is generally used in the photography module of a digital camera or a mobile phone.
Referring to FIG. 1, a cross-sectional view of an electronic device such as a CMOS image sensor in accordance with the prior art is shown. The electronic device has: a carrier board 10 having a first surface 10a and a corresponding second surface 10b; a first electrical contact pad 11 formed on the first surface 10a; a wiring layer 12 formed on the first surface 10a and the first electrical contact pad 11, the wiring layer 12 being electrically connected to the first electrical contact pad 11; a silicon layer 13 formed on the wiring layer 12; a color filter layer 14 formed on the silicon layer 13; a microlens layer 15 formed on the color filter layer 26, allowing the color filter layer 14 and the microlens layer 15 to define an active region A, wherein a region outside the active region A is an inactive region B, and the first electrical contact pad 11 is positioned outside the active region A; a second electrical contact pad 16 formed on the second surface 10b; a glass layer 17, formed on the second surface 10b and having a opening 170 for exposing the second electrical contact pad 16; and a conductive aperture 1$ penetrating through the carrier board 10 and electrically connected to the first electrical contact pad 11 and the second electrical contact pad 16.
However, since the first electrical contact pad 11 of the electronic device is disposed outside the active region of the electronic device, the whole electronic device occupies a larger area of the substrate (including the carrier, the wire-disposing layer, the silicon layer and the like) and is thus larger in size. That is, the disposition of the first electrical contact pad 11 of the prior art electronic device requires a larger size of the substrate, thereby making the electronic device higher in cost to manufacturer and larger in size. Accordingly, such an electronic device fails to meet the miniaturization requirement for electronic products.
Therefore, it has become a critical issue to be solved as to how to effectively reduce the required size of the substrate.